Diarrhoea AND electricity? This bacteria can do it all!

Scientists say bacteria living in the human gut could be used to create batteries and waste-to-energy technologies.

A new report from the University of California suggests a common diarrhea-causing bacterium, Listeria monocytogenes, produces electricity using a previously undiscovered method.

In the process of creating energy, the bacteria transfer electrons out of the cell in a series of special chemical reactions called the extracellular electron transfer chain.

This carries the electrons as a tiny electrical current – scientists say electricity can be generated by putting an electrode into a flask of these bacteria.

The bacteria that cause gangrene and many hospital-acquired infections also produce electricity.

The researchers say they could be used to create living batteries from microbes, with ‘bio-energetic technologies’ potentially being used to generate electricity from bacteria in waste treatment plants.